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Impressions of CCHS: Nanae HS English Club

By Ben Mirin, CIR, on ConcordNanae.org and via Qik Live video

Last Friday, I showed this movie (in Japanese) to this year’s English Club at Nanae High School.  Produced by Nanae student delegates who visited Concord in 2010, the movie documents Japanese middle- and high-school student observations about Concord-Carlisle High School, where the delegates spent a week attending classes, touring the campus, and experiencing American high school life.

After showing the movie I asked our English Club students to identify differences they noticed in the video between CCHS and their own NHS.

If you’re a Concord student and you’ve been to Nanae, post some of your reactions after reading in the comment section below, or post them on our Facebook Page ! What was different about Nanae High School from CCHS?

Here’s what the Nanae students said:

Takanori Abe (2nd-year student, Class 2, 2011 Band Delegate to Concord):

It’s interesting that the bell at CCHS marks the end of class.  I was very surprised.  In Japan, the bell marks the start of class.

Chinami Takada (1st-year student), Akira Kimura (1st-year student, Class 3), & Shiori Wada (3rd-year student):

There is a big cafeteria in CCHS, but we have no cafeteria in our high school.  Students in Concord also have no school uniform, just like university students in Japan.

Ayu Kosugi (3rd-year student):

Students in Concord can use computers freely at any time.  We cannot.

Generally, I think CCHS is bigger than Nanae High School.

Continue reading “Impressions of CCHS: Nanae HS English Club”

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Sister Cities Ep 7 Sneak Peek

By Ben Mirin, CIR

September 25th, 2011: An interview shot during last year’s historic community concert between the Nanae and Concord-Carlisle High School bands. Featuring Susan Erickson and Robin Cicchetti

Stay tuned for the next episode, in which I’ll sit down with beloved Nanae Band Director, Katsuyuki Onodera-sensei. We’ll be talking about the concert, and enjoying a special backstage interview with CCHS Band Director, Al Dentino!

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Sci-Fi Delegation: A Great Success

Hello everyone,

This year’s visit to Nanae by the CCHS Sci-Fi Club was tremendously successful, and here’s some visual proof!

Check out Dr. David Nurenberg’s blog documenting the Sci-Fi trip around Japan: http://cchsjapantrip2012.wordpress.com/

You can also view a compilation of Dr. Nurenberg’s and my photos in the photo gallery, an alternate set of photos exclusively on our Facebook Page (facebook.com/concordnanae), and in a new Flickr Collection (flickr.com/photos/56651982@N08).

We are still working on uploading a series of interviews with student members of the recent Sci-Fi delegation to Nanae. They will be available on the new Sister Schools page (password protected), and a select few will also be published here on the home page.

Stay tuned!
-The CIR

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Science-Fiction and Agriculture: Concord Delegation Finalized for April 2012

By Ben Mirin, CIR

In place of this week’s episode of “Sister Cities,” I bring you an exciting update (the import of which should explain why there will also be no Sister Cities episode on Friday, April 13th, but look for more delegation updates around that time!):

This week, Nanae’s International Relations section has finalized the schedule for its next official delegation visit from Concord. Arriving on April 10th, 30 Concord delegates will tour Nanae (and the nearby city of Hakodate), home-stay with local Nanae families, and attend various cultural events organized specifically for their four-day stay.

This upcoming delegation has a central focus, since 25 of its 30 members will represent the Concord-Carlisle High School Science-Fiction Club. Led by CCHS English teacher and Sister School Coordinator Dr. David Nurenburg, this will be the Club’s second time making an official visit to the Japanese sister city, after a groundbreaking trip in 2009. (click for photos)

Concord’s delegation will also consist of Concord-Carlisle Librarian Robin Chichetti, Concord translator Junko Kargula, Concord-Carlisle Nurse Cary Bestor Williams, and the delegation leader, Concord-Carlisle Vice-Principal Dr. Alan Weinstein. Collectively, their visit will sustain a 15-year tradition of April delegations from Concord to Nanae. It will also mark 2 years of a healthy sister school relationship between Concord-Carlisle and Nanae High Schools, poignantly, at a time when the Japanese school year is just beginning. Continue reading “Science-Fiction and Agriculture: Concord Delegation Finalized for April 2012”

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Trailer: “Sister Cities” Web Series by Ben Mirin, CIR

By Ben Mirin, CIR

Ten weeks.

Ten episodes.

Ten in-depth interviews with citizens of Nanae, Japan.

Join me on Friday, MARCH 2nd for the premier of my new web series, “Sister Cities,” here on ConcordNanae.org and on YouTube!

Please consider leaving a comment on this post in the comment section below, or subscribing to the RSS feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader.

To submit suggestions for future content, please email concordnanae@gmail.com. Thank you for visiting ConcordNanae.org.

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The Concord-Nanae Student News Exchange Begins

By Ben Mirin, CIR

April 25th, 2011

Hitomi Shihoya

On April 11th, Concord-Carlisle High School’s student newspaper, The Voice, published its first article submitted by a student from Nanae High School.  Second-year student (high school junior) Hitomi Shihoya of the Nanae High School English Club wrote about her experience of Japan’s terrible earthquake last month and her reflections on its aftermath.

“I was very surprised because I had never seen such a large-scale earthquake in my whole life,” Shihoya writes.  “I came back to everyday life in a few days, but I am very anxious because I don’t know when the next natural disaster will happen. I am also very worried about more aftershocks, and the nuclear radiation in Fukushima.”

Shihoya’s article also expresses personal gratitude toward the US and other foreign nations that contributed to Japan’s relief efforts following the disaster. The complete text of her article can be seen on The Voice‘s website.

This publication marks the launch of what will hopefully become an ongoing exchange between high school students in Concord, Carlisle, and Nanae.  The projects’ orchestrators–the CIR and the faculty advisors to The Voice and the English Club–hope eventually to establish a written cross-cultural dialogue between students in both towns on at least a monthly basis.

Concord-Carlisle High School and Nanae High School are officially sister schools.  Official visits and home-stays between the schools’ bands and the CCHS Sci-Fi Club have been centerpieces in the rich history of the Concord-Nanae sister city relationship.  The Student News Exchange, as the project is tentatively titled, is intended to bring two more student organizations, the English Club and The Voice, more deeply into that framework. Continue reading “The Concord-Nanae Student News Exchange Begins”

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Taiko Drumming at Concord-Carlisle High School

By Ben Mirin, CIR.

Members of the community Taiko club at Concord-Carlisle High School describe witnessing Taiko drumming during a visit to Nanae, Japan, and how that experience encouraged their study of the traditional Japanese art form.  The students featured here are Mark O’Toole (’11) and Nathaniel Ridpath (’13), both of whom were members of the Concord delegation that visited Nanae in April 2010.

Continue reading “Taiko Drumming at Concord-Carlisle High School”

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Nanae Students Visit Concord

By Ben Mirin, CIR.

On October 11th, 2010, eight students from Nanae High School and Middle School began a week-long visit to Concord, Massachusetts.  All were select members of Nanae‘s annual delegation to Concord, and most had never traveled outside of Japan.  Together with the help of the CIR, Ben Mirin, and staff at Concord-Carlisle High School, they produced a 10-minute documentary about their experiences and initial impressions of CCHS and its people.

Continue reading “Nanae Students Visit Concord”